[Python-Dev] fork or exec?

[Antoine Pitrou]

Le Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:35:29 +0100,
Charles-François Natali <neologix at free.fr> a écrit :
> > So, I read your e-mail again and I'm wondering if you're making a
> > logic error, or if I'm misunderstanding something:
> >
> > 1. first you're talking about duplicate file or socket objects after
> > *fork()* (which is an issue I agree is quite annoying)
> >
> > 2. the solution you're proposing doesn't close the file descriptors
> > after fork() but after *exec()*.
> >
> > Basically the solution doesn't address the problem. Many fork()
> > calls aren't followed by an exec() call (multiprocessing comes to
> > mind).
> 
> Yes.
> In this specific case, the proper solution is to close the server
> socket right after fork() in the child process.
> 
> We can't do anything about file descriptors inherited upon fork() (and
> shouldn't do anything of course, except on an individual basis like
> this socket server example).

Having an official afterfork facility would still help. I currently
rely on multiprocessing.util.register_after_fork(), even though it's an
undocumented API (and, of course, it works only for those child
processes launched by multiprocessing, not other fork() uses).

Regards

Antoine.